''Intolerance'' row springs again as Congress-BJP spar over Aamir Khan

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan

New Delhi: The Congress Party on Friday lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Madhav for his controversial remarks on Aamir Khan and said that such statements reflects that `intolerance` in the government is still prevalent, despite the uproar over the issue in the last few months.

"It is a completely condemnable statement by Ram Madhav. I do not think he even understands what Aamir Khan had said. They have independence and freedom to express what they want," Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI.

"The statements by Ram Madhav, RSS and BJP leaders are the reason why people are saying that this is an intolerant government. This statement goes to prove that the government is still not learnt from what it has been doing for last one year," he added.

Madhav had courted controversy yesterday after he said that Aamir should not only preach to an auto-rickshaw driver about India`s prestige but also to his wife.

"It will not work that you preach to an auto wallah how the country`s prestige has to be saved but not tell the same to your own wife," Madhav had said at Delhi`s SGBT Khalsa College.

In November, Aamir had expressed alarm and despondency over the rise in cases displaying intolerance in the last six to eight months.He had said that a sense of `insecurity` and `fear` had seeped deep within society.

"When I go home and talk to Kiran (Aamir`s wife), for the first time she says, `Should we move out of India?`" Khan said.